On Thursday, UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) announced the release of previously unseen images and documents related to Colossus, one of the first digital computers. The release marks the 80th anniversary of the code-breaking machines that significantly aided the Allied forces during World War II. While some in the public knew of the computers earlier, the UK did not formally acknowledge the project’s existence until the 2000s.
Colossus was not one computer but a series of computers developed by British scientists between 1943 and 1945. These 2-meter-tall electronic beasts played an instrumental role in breaking the Lorenz cipher, a code used for communications between high-ranking German officials in occupied Europe. The computers were said to have allowed allies to “read Hitler’s mind,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
It is also very interesting to read one of the earliest letters referring to Colossus. There is no mention of the word “computer”, just machine, valves and relays. It is very difficult for anyone today to just appreciate how groundbreaking and advanced these “machines” were for their day. They’d seen valves being used for analogue radio etc but not as logic circuits for something like a computer.